The bees' brew is sweet, never goes bad, and it's the perfect ingredient for your next drink

7 Honey Cocktails to Start Your Buzz

7 Honey Cocktails to Start Your Buzz

When an overly bitter cocktail needs a shot of sweetness, there are a number of fixes in a bartender’s arsenal. You might think to grab your trusty bottle of simple syrup to take the edge off, but others are adding in a more natural option: honey. In many cocktails, honey’s thickness and depth of flavor can stand up against other ingredients, whereas simple syrup or agave nectar often recede into the background. Just imagine a Bee’s Knees without the sticky stuff. All you’d be left with is a glass of gin and a squeeze of lemon juice. Squirt in some simple syrup and you'd have a gin sour — a fine cocktail, but one with a completely different flavor profile.

Frank Caiafa, beverage manager at Peacock Alley at the Waldorf Astoria in New York City, has been a fan of honey cocktails for much of his career. His fascination with the ingredient reached a crescendo last year when the hotel installed beehives on its roof deck on the 20th floor. Since then he has been tapping the hives for the sweet stuff and creating a steady stream of honey cocktails for the bar. “I try to include at least one cocktail on the list at all times,” he says. “Honey adds viscosity to drinks, and it’s thicker than simple syrup, so it’s a nice alternative.”

So in honor of National Honey Month, and the millions of bees who work to produce what has become a staple for some of the best bartenders around, we’ve asked them to share a few recipes for honey cocktails from their respective bar menus. Once you try these out at home, you may very well find yourself pushing that bottle of simple syrup into the depths of your liquor cabinet.